LifePlan Financial LLC Purchases 703 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

LifePlan Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,726 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Comcast comprises about 1.1% of LifePlan Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. LifePlan Financial LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,331,192,000 after acquiring an additional 416,759 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 6.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,268,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after purchasing an additional 822,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 4.8% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 14,918,501 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $623,146,000 after purchasing an additional 676,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.33.

Comcast Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $36.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $139.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.15 and a 52-week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Comcast Company Profile

Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Residential Connectivity & Platforms, Business Services Connectivity, Media, Studios, and Theme Parks segments. The Residential Connectivity & Platforms segment provides residential broadband and wireless connectivity services, residential and business video services, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising.